Debates of October 30, 2024 (day 35)

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Recognizing that the Giant Mine remediation project will be shutting down some public access to Great Slave Lake, I would anticipate that this dock and other public points of entry will be greatly increased. So does the Minister have any contemplation of that impact on the Robertson Dock at this time? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we're certainly live to that and live to the increase in traffic expected, and we're definitely optimistic about identifying more suitable space and we are also, at the same time as working through this information, proactively working on identifying additional spots within town. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so in this line item, there is quite a bit of funding contemplated and I understand from the Minister's previous comments that they're looking for another location. Do they anticipate using the full dollar amount? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, the Member is right, this project is 100 percent funded by the Canada Infrastructure Program and we, at this time, are not optimistic that this funding is going to be able to roll into another project in this year but certainly, when I kind of have all of these pieces brought together, I would be very happy to update the House on the current status of this project once we get to that decision-making.

Okay, thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thanks, Mr. Chair. Nothing further.

Thank you. Are there any more questions from Members? I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So on this project, can the Minister explain how the city of Yellowknife has been engaged in planning for the project and how it both fits into the city's land use planning and sort of other sorts of planning, economic development planning? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. To the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, we work to be as engaged as possible with the city. I definitely routinely meet with the mayor of Yellowknife as well as the city manager. I believe I just had a meeting this week although it's been -- I think that was Monday. It could have been Friday, but I think it was Monday. And so I do try to be as engaged as possible with colleagues from other branches of leadership and make sure that we're working together as best as possible.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can the Minister speak to specifically engagement on this particular project and whether the city has raised any questions or concerns about this project? Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I can definitely share that the mayor has not raised concerns about this particular project to me but certainly this project's lifetime predates my time in this seat, and so with your permission, Mr. Chair, through yourself, I'd like to pass it to the deputy minister.

Thank you. I'll go to the deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the city has expressed the want and desire to have a multipurpose site. We know that Robertson Dock is maybe a bit distant from, you know, the downtown core, and that's always been I think a comment that we've taken into consideration, but the availability of sites has been very limited. So we continuously seek their feedback and as we look on the new sites, on the options for them, we're working with the city on that one. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yeah, no, just to close that loop, I just encourage the Minister and her staff to continue to work closely with the city. I think there's a lot of goals that are aligned and, you know, there's efforts and resources at the city level, too, for economic diversification and business support, so just making sure that people are all pulling in the same direction and we don't either duplicate efforts or end up working at cross-purposes when, you know, we have scarce resources in this territory and certainly need to do everything we can to support economic diversification, including the fisheries industry and really boost the infrastructure we have for that here in Yellowknife. Thank you.

I'll go back to the Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I absolutely agree, and I'm all ears for any opportunity to work together and to combine resources. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Yellowknife North.

That's all. Thank you.

Is there any other Members have questions? Okay, don't see none.

The Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, economic diversification and business support, infrastructure investment, $2,250,000. Does the committee agree?

Agreed.

Thank you, Members. Please turn to page 48, minerals and petroleum resources with information items on page 49. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I'd like to ask about the -- one of my favorite topics, the MARS system and to see where we're at. I note the costs continue to escalate on this project and so does the implementation date. So can the Minister provide an update to the House. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, on this particular project, the original budget was $4.2 million over a three-year time period and throughout the project, because of different delays, it was readjusted to a budget of $3.7 million over five years. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Okay, thank you for the correction from the Minister. So are we still on track to have this implemented according to schedule? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, I would like to acknowledge the Member's comment about according to schedule. I think that's an important comment that the schedule has changed over the lifetime of this project.

Where it stands right now is the first component of the MARS project is the LTOS portion of it, and that is the land tenure optimization system that is currently being worked on ISSS. Originally, that piece of the project was going to get done first and then MARS would get done afterwards. And what we're currently working on is how we can marry these two projects together so that they can actually be built in parallel to one another so that we can work on improving that timeline that I know that the Member is referring to. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Range Lake.

Thank you. So the estimated completion is 2026-2027? Is that still what the Minister -- is that still in line with this project; will the project stick to that completion date? Thank you.

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. That is certainly my goal, and our current go live date is June of 2026. For further detail, Mr. Chair, can I pass to the deputy minister, please.

Yes, I'll go to the deputy minister.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, the Minister is referring to the first phase of LTOS of next year for the oil and gas go live, or probably before that. The implementation of MARS is expected for Q1 of 2027. Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you. I'll go to the Member from Great Slave.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, I appreciate that. I know some prospectors will appreciate the clarity on that, and I look forward to the successful roll out of these systems. Sometimes it feels like Elon Musk is going to get to Mars before we do, so. That's it for puns. Thank you for the update. Thanks.

Okay, thank you. Any further questions from Members? Okay, seeing none, I'll continue on. Thank you, Members. Please turn to -- sorry --

Okay, Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment, minerals and petroleum resources, infrastructure investment, $1,421,000. Does the committee agree?

Agreed.

Thank you. Thank you, Members. Please turn now to page 50. Tourism and parks with information items on page 51, 52. Are there any questions? I'm going to go to the Member from Frame Lake.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, my first question is on the Blackstone Territorial Park fixed roof shelter. To what extent does the existing facility generate revenues which would contribute to cost recovery? Do we have a figure for how much revenue that facility generates annually?

Thank you. I'll go to the Minister.

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. Chair, so that facility is at a cost of $75 a night to the renter. And as far as the overall cost of running the facility versus what we get back, our park system across the territory generally does cost the GNWT more than it receives in revenue. So we do subsidize our parks and camping experiences for users. Thank you.